Some tips please for the Thames

[Bunny]

Isn't enough room for us (62ft N/B ) to turn before Theale swing bridge, lost the stern when we made the mistake of just getting off with the middle rope ( years ago) and trying to hold the boat on a bollard. Ended up on a sand bank opp the bridge mooring and the bow stuck under the bridge, took almost an hour to get off and back to the lock mooring. Yes you could turn before the weir beside County lock, again have seen two boats ( different times) bouncing off the weir protectors , one boat took almost an hour to get off. First time we attempted to moor for the lock we almost lost the boat, ended up turning on a bow line wrapped round a bollard. We find the stern line first at theses points work for us. Bunny.

[blackrose]

 

Perhaps - for brevity's sake _ I didn't explain things is fuller detail.

 

So here goes -

If controlling the line you take a simple half turn around the bollard and take the free end back on board. If desired do the same on the T-stud or whatever you have at the back end of the boat. If you take a full turn at the lockside end there is a very strong possibility that the line will jam. It happens all the time and boats get hung up. Even happens to me at the boat end where I take a loose full turn to stop the free end dangling in the water (and I'm chatting to the Lockie). If the lockie is attentive he / she will take the turn off and glare at you .

 

The same applies if you have a crew member on the lockside - the line can get caught. It's easier to take a half turn and loop the free end over the ear of the bollard which will take any strain that you need.

 

Does than make more sense?

 

The only caveat I would add to that is when coming upstream in locks which are side fill. Locks like Bell Weir (and there are a couple of others) can be very difficult to hold your boat unless you take a full turn on the bollard (going up only of course!). When I'm single handed on those locks I just tie bow and stern onto the bollards and let the boat drift out. If it meets a boat on the other side of the lock they usually just hold each other off.

 

Ask the lockkeeper if the lock is side fill if you are unsure as some lock keepers are not too forthcoming in volunteering such information.

 

I believe that this posting shows what can happen if you moor facing downstream ...

 

Surely if it floods that can happen if you moor in either direction?

[blackrose]

Oh dear, I seem to have caused a bit of a kerfuffle.

 

I have been given a lot of good advice and really appreciate you helping me. I just hope the weather is alright now and the river won't be on yellow boards so all my homework will have been in vain.

 

So if you see a blue hire boat 'Ufton Lock', with someone looking bewildered about which buttons to press at the locks (can it be any more difficult then the LL swing bridges?) please be kind. I am usually the one doing the donkey work (by choice mind) whilst hubbie looks nonchalant on the tiller.eering with the current

 

I haven't read all the posts on this thread, but I think you will be coming down the Kennet onto the Thames?

 

I took my widebeam up the Kennet while it was still in spate last spring and it wasn't easy. Trees were down on both sides and in some places it felt like an uphill slalom. It would have only taken a moments loss of concentration and loss of control and things could have got nasty, but my biggest fear was meeting a boat coming the other way on some of the narrower sections where they would have had little control travelling with the current.

 

You may already know the Kennet well so I don't mean to teach you to suck eggs, but my advice would be to choose a time to come down the Kennet when the river isn't flowing too fast. In comparison to the Kennet the Thames is paradise!

Edited January 28, 2014 by blackrose

[blackrose]

To Naughty Cal - Well - if you have a 60 ft boat in a 45 foot wide channel - for example at Woolhampton swing bridge, and you don't concede that it is necessary to moor with the flow in order to stop to close the bridge, what is you solution?

 

There's no hard and fast rule about mooring head up or down. In general it's head up, but in certain situations it may be necessary to moor head down. Anyone on a river should be competent enough to be able to make a decision on what's safest on their own boat in any particular situation. However I was once crewing on a passenger boat being steered downstream on a strong ebb tide on the tidal Thames, and for some unknown reason the professional skipper (who we'd hired because none of us were licensed for a passenger boat on the tidal Thames), decided to moor at Chelsea pier facing downstream! We had a hell of a job getting the boat in and it was all completely unnecessary. So I'd say I'd say try to moor head up unless there is a good reason not to, or unless it hasn't rained for ages and the non-tidal Thames is like a millpond in which case it really doesn't matter.

Edited January 28, 2014 by blackrose

[George94]

I think it's better to advise people on a river to moor pointing upstream, Whilst it's possible to do so pointing downstream, it only works if the current is slow, and in these days that can't be guaranteed.

 

Moreover, some boats are very difficult to steer in reverse.

 

If you can't turn round, then you've probably gone too far!

[billS]

I think it's better to advise people on a river to moor pointing upstream, Whilst it's possible to do so pointing downstream, it only works if the current is slow, and in these days that can't be guaranteed.

 

Moreover, some boats are very difficult to steer in reverse.

 

If you can't turn round, then you've probably gone too far!

 

 

Isn't enough room for us (62ft N/B ) to turn before Theale swing bridge,

 

[George94]

 

 

 

 

It was a joke, Bill, as indicated by the smiley.

[Ten]

I recommend you put your books, CDs and bottles of wine in boxes at floor level... The first time we hit the Thames we destroyed the contents of our wine rack :__(

[Semitrad]

Lines in locks two people on boat 1 front 1 back lock keeper will help put them round bollards .Engine off in Thames locks .With regards mooring fees I had to pay above Sonning lock Still lots of flood water about so best of luck with water and happy boating.

 

 

I sometimes exercise dog between Sonning lock and the canoe club, there are notices bankside saying 48hr free mooring above the lock just round the bend.

 

Mooring at Tesco is restricted to 2hrs as I recall.

[Keeping Up]

 

 

I sometimes exercise dog between Sonning lock and the canoe club, there are notices bankside saying 48hr free mooring above the lock just round the bend.

 

Mooring at Tesco is restricted to 2hrs as I recall.

 

The mooring outside Tesco at Reading is not restricted to 2 hours. Overnight mooring is permitted and is very common; in fact I am not sure if there is any limit specified.

[MtB]

 

The mooring outside Tesco at Reading is not restricted to 2 hours. Overnight mooring is permitted and is very common; in fact I am not sure if there is any limit specified.

 

More to the point, if a limit is specified I'd be interested in the legal basis available to Reading Borough Council for imposing one.

 

There is a sign on the town centre moorings behind the prison saying something like "Reading Borough Council 24 hour moorings". Just along, outside Homebase, there is a clutch of boats that have been there for about a year on what always used to be empty bank space. Another new boat joined the community the other day and it's getting pretty crowded along there, so I'm intrigued as to how and why they are allowed to stay there.

 

MtB

[blackrose]

I recommend you put your books, CDs and bottles of wine in boxes at floor level... The first time we hit the Thames we destroyed the contents of our wine rack :__(

 

You probably came onto the tidal Thames. I think the OP is coming onto the Thames at Reading

 

More to the point, if a limit is specified I'd be interested in the legal basis available to Reading Borough Council for imposing one.

 

There is a sign on the town centre moorings behind the prison saying something like "Reading Borough Council 24 hour moorings". Just along, outside Homebase, there is a clutch of boats that have been there for about a year on what always used to be empty bank space. Another new boat joined the community the other day and it's getting pretty crowded along there, so I'm intrigued as to how and why they are allowed to stay there.

 

MtB

 

Is that behind Toys R Us Mike? I met some of those people when I was looking for somewhere to leave my boat last April. I think they get left alone because they're alternative crusties. One of them seemed like a nice bloke but then another one came up and asked if I was a newbie. Without even waiting for an answer he shouted out "F**king newbie!" When I told him I'd been living on boats for more than 10 years he walked off in a huff! What a t#t! I guess despite appearances those alternative types are just as guilty of prejudice and judgements as the rest of us...

 

They probably also get left alone because that part of the river doesn't seem to be administered by any authority. I might be wrong here but it looks like the K&A starts at Blakes lock upstream and the EA probably have better things to think about on the main line of the Thames rather than an urban arm.

Edited February 1, 2016 by DHutch

[Ten]

You probably came onto the tidal Thames. I think the OP is coming onto the Thames at Reading

I must have missed that, sorry. Keep you wine rack well stuffed then!! ;-)

[jacloc]

Well I shall be keep in all these tips safe until the end of September as I have just been told, because of the stoppages from Kintbury lock to County lock, we cannot travel. The hire base is at Aldermaston and is 'trapped'. I have had to rearrange the trip, now not going until the end of September, so fingers crossed the weather doesn't do anything silly then. Flipping heck, I was really looking forward to a cruise too!

[billS]

That is bad news. The Kennet initially dropped fairly quickly after the rain stopped, but it is still high and is now reducing at about an inch a day upstream of County lock. Some of the Thames locks have gone from red to yellow.

 

I am hoping all will be navigible by Easter, I need to move from Aldermaston to Banbury then.